Now that the elections of 2012 are over it seems a good time to end partisanship. Partisanship is the blind unthinking loyalty to the party for whom you vote or serve. Ending partisanship is a difficult task for many voters and even for elected politicians. Partisanship means you do or support what you are told by the leaders of your party, oftentimes without free will or thought.

I suggest that we as Americans and, more so, we as Vermonters, stop the left vs. right, Democrat vs. Republican, conservative vs. liberal paradigm and start fulfilling our duty as citizens and elected officials. I suggest that we should actually investigate, educate ourselves and weigh the consequences of policies, decisions, bills and laws through a filter of right vs. wrong, just vs. unethical, sustainable vs. illogical, constitutional vs. illegal. I suggest that our elected officials should stop giving special rights to special interest groups or political supporters and do what is best for all the people and for the future of our state. It seems that politicians give away taxpayers’ money to buy voter popularity, to pay back campaign contributors and to support radical or extremely controversial causes that many voters are adamantly opposed to.

On every issue I strongly encourage our state’s representatives to weigh the long-term effects of their policy and decisions through the prism of individual rights. I believe every decision made by our state government should pass one very important test. Does the decision benefit authoritarianism (which I define as the will of government imposed on the people) or does the policy or decision support the rights of individuals to make their own decisions on their health, their food, their charity, their money, their Internet use, their vaccinations, their drinking water, their ridgelines, their property, their education and their family life? I support representatives who stand for individual freedom and serve their friends and neighbors. I oppose representatives that impose authoritarian dictates and force their causes, policy and philosophy on all people. These representatives have the incorrect understanding that they are our leaders.

I desire to see the end of partisanship by bringing our elected officials together on the common philosophical ground that they are servants of the people, not leaders over the people.